THE USE OF BLOGS IN CLASS

TO MY FOLLOWERS

TUTORIAL: USING ELENA’S BLOG.

BLOG IN PROGRESS…

by Elena Gómez Ortego ( EOI teacher)

WHAT’S A BLOG?

Watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjwUHXoi8lM

DID YOU THINK I WAS GOING TO LEAVE YOU

ALONE?!

DEAR FOLLOWERS ( STUDENTS, CO-

WORKERS,ETC)

APOLOGY

First of all, I owe you an apology for leaving

my blog aside and not updating it in the past

months. Motherhood keeps you busy and

changes your life completely, as most of you

will know.

39.639 VIEWS , OCTOBER 2015

I STARTED IT IN

2009

THANK YOU!

To my followers for supporting me all these

years.

Thanks to my students ( elementary B1 to

advanced B2) and visits I keep the blog

updated.

Thanks to my colleagues for their feedback on

my blog. It makes me realize that it’s worth the

effort.

I hope this blog has come in handy for your

daily learning goals.

REFLECTING ON BLOGGING FOR EDUCATIONAL

PURPOSES

Moving on to the blog part….after 7 years

keeping and updating this blog, as a teacher,

I can’t help but ask myself these questions

related to the use of blogs in the classroom.

ELENA’S QUESTIONS

What? What's the purpose of my blog?

Who? Who are my potential readers?

How? How am I going to use it in class?

When/ How often? When am I going to use it during the school year?

Where? Where will I work with it? In the classroom, at home?

What for? What's the aim of using it? What skill do I want my

students to practice, improve, master.

Which materials?

Why? Reasons for keeping, updating, changing the layout of the blog.

Is it worth it?

ANSWERS

What for?

For( learning / knowledge/improvement/

entertaining/ fun, and the last reason …for helping you

get prepared for your final exams.)

The last reason is not as important as the first.

FOR LEARNING

WHY?

Because… My blog is a part of me as a teacher and you need it for progress.

I can reach you everywhere and teach you anywhere/everywhere.

This blog is an extra students’ book, workbook but with more digital materials and content.

You can post your classroom written tasks on the blog.

It contains materials created by me for the lessons and it alsoincludes authentic and carefully chosen materials related to thelesson topic, grammar point, etc we are studying in class.

I can also post students’ materials on the blog.

Materials come from differerent sources: online media and booksources which do only exist online.

It saves us time in the classroom and dynamizes teaching and learning.

It represents the main points included in the Syllabus and andlesson plans.

The blog stays here for good and you can always access itscontents.

IS IT WORTH IT?

I bet some teachers are still asking the exact

same question.

You know…it’s time consuming and I’ve

spent a lot of hours in front of the computer

creating/updating this blog and its materials.

STUDENT’S QUESTIONS

What's a blog?

How often do we need to visit it?

FAQ:Where can we find the materials? There’s a lot of information, I get lost.

How do I use it?

What for? Purpose of using the goal, advantage of using it and results.

How useful is it for them? They exchange opinions in class.

Why do we have to use it?! (upset, desperate, worriedstudent,)

REASONS FOR UPDATING THE BLOG

Due to lack of time,

students often find

it hard to follow it

or look for specific

contents on the

blog.

ABOUT ENTRIES AND CONTENTS

SCHOOL YEAR 2015-2016

ENTRIES

Entries will not refer to a specific part of a coursebook, but they will beindependently posted as online materials or pieces of news.

HOW do I look for contents?

Remember: contents are already on the blog.

How can I find B2 contents?

1. Click on “advanced contents

index” ( it’s still unfinished and

provisional but it can help).

2. You can also visit B2 topics section.

BLOG ARCHIVE: TO SEE CONTENTS

ADVANCED B2.2 (2ND YEAR ADVANCED)

CONTENTS

I’m working on it now.

But you’ll see it under this name :

ADVANCED B2 CONTENTS INDEX

( visit the blog and scroll down)

SCROLL DOWN

MATERIALS YOU CAN FIND ON THE BLOG

Advanced contents

index

Grammarcontents

Cleft sentences, the passivevoice, defining/non-defining

relative clauses,

Functions

Giving opinion, comparing, expressingcontrast,

paraphrasing, being tactful,polite

interruptions

Vocabulary

Pronunciation/

Phonetics

skills

ListeningCOMOR

SpeakingEXINO

ReadingCOMLE

WritingEXINE

REMEMBER:

Each year I’ve been uploading and linking

tons of interesting materials and creating

new ones for you, so you won’t need to look

further.

TIP: Just follow the new posts to come and

visit the old labels on the left side bar.

CONCLUSION

Yes, it is worth having/keeping a blog and I’ll

keep on working on it and improving it.

I hope this tutorial helps.

BLOG ADDRESS AND CONTACT

Blog:click and learn (elementary toadvanced).

http://cursodeingles-elena.blogspot.com.es/

CONTACT ME AT:

languelen@gmail.com

I’ll keep you posted!!